Rav4 Electric battery pack
The 2012 Rav4 electric’s battery pack is a 386 volt lithium ion battery comprised of 4500 cells and rated at 41.8 kWh. Maximum output is 129 kW. The Rav 4 EV has an onboard 10kW charger with a max input of 40 amps. The pack weighs 840 lbs and since the weight is below the floorboards, it actually provides better handling than the conventional 2012 Rav 4.

Charging the Rav4 ElectricThe Rav4 EV has 2 charge modes: Standard, and Extended. In standard, the battery charges up only to about 35 kWh and the vehicle would have an EPA range of 92 miles. In extended mode, the battery is allowed to charge to its full 41.8kWh capacity which provides an EPA range of 113 miles.

Standard mode is designed to increase and optimize battery life over range. However, Toyota’s battery warranty of 8 years or 100,000 miles covers the pack regardless of the mix of charge modes used over the pack’s life.

Cargo Capacity
The battery pack in the Rav4 EV is located below the floorplan so the electric SUV’s cargo space of 34.6 cubic geet is the same as its gasoline sibling.

8 Responses to Rav4 EV Specs

I don’t know that anyone knows that – Toyota’s detailed spec sheet only lists the battery capacity at 41.8kWh. I think that is the maximum capacity – but useable amount might only be 90% of that (if using the Leaf battery capacity usage as a guideline)

I wonder if there is software to limit the depletion or usable amount to only 41.8kWh? That would be closer to 80% useable if the pack is over 50kWh total.

I could see Toyota doing something like this especially after the troubles Nissan has with their battery pack degradation issues…. the less pack Toyota lets you use, the more the pack can degrade without you even noticing.

If there is software that limits the use to 41.8kWh, then that means the EPA range tests were done with the 41.8kWh, which means with a software hack, you should be able to increase your range?!

I think the EPA’s rating range rating (102 miles) of the RAV4 EV is artificially low by far! On an extended charge, driving normally – no jack rabbit starts, no hard braking, and in the city with no significant elevation changes – the maximum range will be closer to 150 miles!

From this previous statement above, “The 2012 Rav4 electric’s battery pack is a 386 volt lithium ion battery comprised of 4500 cells and rated at 41.8 kWh. Maximum output is 129 kW.” Can we then not deduce what the actual maximum “as designed” battery capacity should be as well? As I recall from another source, the capacity of each Li-ion cell (made by Panasonic) is 2200mA-hrs. Therefore, the total amp-hour capacity would be 9.9kA-hrs. If the nominal terminal output voltage of each cell is 3.7Vdc (which I am not entirely certain is accurate), then the maximum battery capacity would only be 36.63KW-hrs. But, we know this to be untrue as the “rated” (usable) capacity is 41.8kW-hrs. What am I missing here???

Your calculations make sense – so I’m not sure what’s missing. Perhaps the 2200mA-hrs for each cell is inaccurate? I couldn’t find anything about the size of each cell that applied to this generation of Rav4 EV.

Toyota’s own specifications are no help, not saying how many cells or voltage or brand etc.

Panasonic also has 18650 cells with 2350 and 3100 mAh capacities. If 2350mAh cells were used the capacity would be a closer 39.1kWh , alternatively if the 3100mAh cells were used the capacity would 51.6 kWh which matches the earlier comment by Tony.